“Urgent Need to Complete Missing Staff in State Hospitals, Says Dietitians Association”
The Cyprus Turkish Dietetic Association has made an urgent call for the completion of the missing dietitian staff in state hospitals. According to the association, dietitians have been working with insufficient staff in state hospitals for years, and no one has been taken to replace a dietitian who retired about a year ago in Girne and Lefkoşa Dr. Burhan Nalbantoğlu State Hospital. The Famagusta State Hospital only has one dietician.
The last vacancy for dietitians was opened in 2003, and only two people were recruited to the state staff, while three colleagues have been recruited as temporary civil servants or temporary workers since 2003. Although the Ministry of Health has repeatedly requested staff positions, they were rejected because they were deemed unnecessary.
The association pointed out that a dietitian’s only duty is not to treat obesity, but preventing obesity means preventing many diseases that will impose an economic burden on the state. Diet therapy precedes drug therapy in the treatment of many diseases, supporting the reduction of hospitalization times of patients, or the prevention of hospitalization of patients.
The association also stated that their profession is being treated as insignificant, and the necessary equipment to develop diet polyclinics has not been provided for years. Hospital kitchens have been privatized, and the defenses made because companies have dietitians are completely unconscious. In addition, although the number of dietitians is increasing all over the world, there are no dietitians in some hospitals in the TRNC, or the numbers are very insufficient in some hospitals. At present, there are only two dietitians in the state staff, which is not enough to handle the increasing numbers of patients.
The association has called on the government to take immediate action to address the shortage of dietitians in state hospitals. Having sufficient numbers of dietitians will not only improve the health of patients, but it will also save the country’s economy in the long run.
